Post-office cabinet.



M. J. C LEARY, JR. POST OFFICE CABINET.

- APPLICATION FILED JAN. 19. I916. LQSQfiQQD Patented July 10, 1911 2 SHEETSSHEET I.

M J. CLEARY, JR. POST OFFICE CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 19. me.

1,28, Patented July 10, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNXTED TATES N @FFEQE MARTIN JAMES GLEARY, JR., OF OGDEN, UTAH.

POST-OFFICE CABINET.

Application filed. January 19, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN J. CLEARY, Jr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ogden, in the county of Weber and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Post-Ofiice Cabinets; and I do hereby declare the'following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a cabinet or article of furniture particularly designed for facilitating the sorting and routing of, mail matter in a post office, and the primary object of the invention is to provide a cabinet which is constructed for facilitating the quick and accurate handling and sorting of the mail matter for expediting the speed and efliciency of the mail man in properly sorting and routing his mail matter.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cabinet as specified, which includes compartments for receiving letter mail, papers, bulk mail and parcel post packages and to provide a plurality of pigeon holes in the letter mail receiving compartment and also in the compartment in Which the papers are sorted and routed.

A further object of the invention is to providea table or desk top which is attached to the cabinet and has a Writing surface,

which is provided with a depressed portion for receiving an ink bottle or well, a trough for receiving pens and pencils, and has an upstanding pocket attached to one side or end of the same for receiving orders such as for the changing of addresses or the like.

A further object of the invention is to slidably support a drawer beneaththe desk or table top, which may be used for retaining various articles.

Another object of this invention is to incline the bottoms of the pigeon holes downwardly, so that the letters will, by their own weight, fall properly within the pigeon holes, further to provide transparent partitions for the pigeon holes, so that the man sorting and routing the letters can see the address upon the top letter Within the pigeon holes for facilitating the routing of the mail matter, and further to cut recesses in the bottoms of the pigeon holes for retaining the letter mail, which facilitates the removal of the letters from the pigeon holes.

Vvith the foregoing and other objects in Patented July 10, 1917.

Serial No. 73,042.

View, this invention consists in such novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the improved cabinet,

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section through the cabinet,

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the cabinet, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view through the cabinet, showing the manner of inserting the transparent plane in position.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 designates the cabinet structure as an entirety, which is composed of wood or analogous material. a vertical longitudinally extending centrally disposed board 2, which has end boards 3 and 4L attached to the ends forming a pair of compartments 5 and 6. The compartments 5 and 6 are divided intermediate their top and bottom portions by tables 7 and 8, which extend horizontally within the compartments and have upstanding flanges, indicated at 9, formed on their outer edges for preventing the mail matter from sliding off the table top.

The portion of the compartments 5 and 6 above the horizontal tables 7 and 8 have a plurality of inclined plates 10 positioned therein, in spaced relation to each other, which inclined plates have vertical partitions 11 secured thereto at spaced intervals for forming pigeon holes, as indicated at 12. The inclined partitions 10 incline downwardly as they extend inwardly, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, so that when the mail matter, which is positioned within the pigeon holes 12 has been inserted therein it will fall Within the pigeon holes by its own weight. are provided for receiving papers, magazines or the like. A relatively large space is left between the lowermost of the partitions 10, and the upper surface of the tables 7 and 8, which is provided for receiving the mail in bulk, prior to the sorting of the same, is divided into tWo separate compart- The cabinet includes The pigeon holes 12 ments by a partition 14. The spaces in the compartments 5 and 6 below the tables 7 and 8 are provided for receiving parcel post packages or the like. A top board .15 is attached to the upper edge of the center board 2 and has its ends attached to the upper ends of the end boards 3 and 4.

Vertically positioned boards 17 and 18 are secured to the outer surfaces of the end boards 3 and 4 at their edges and extend outwardly therefrom parallel to each other. A desk or table top 20 is secured to the outer surface of each of the end boards 3 and 4 and to the inner surfaces of each of the boards .17 and 18, and projects outwardly beyond the edges of the boards 1'? and 18. The table or desk tops 20 have depressed portions 21 formed therein for receiving an ink bottle or ink well and each of them has a pencil and pen trough 22 secured to their upper surfaces inwardly of the depressed portions 21. A pocket 24, which is formed of any suitable material and has its open end positioned upwardly, is attached to the upper surface of each of the desk or table tops 20 and is provided for receiving orders, or other similar documents or cards. If it is so desired, a transparent plate, preferably of glass, as indicated at 25, may be inserted in each of the desk tops 20 for the purpose of holding route cards or other papers upon the desk top where they may be conveniently seen by'the postman who arranges the mail matter. A drawer 27 is slidably supported beneath each of the desk tops and is provided for retaining twine, straps or other analogous articles. A metallic plate 28, which is bent to form sub stantially a U-shape is secured to the under surface of each of the desk tops and provides a pocket for receiving various articles. The space between each of the boards 17 and 18, above the desk top, is provided with a plurality of substantially horizontal partitions 30 and vertical partitions 31, forming pigeon holes for receiving letter mail. The substantially horizontal partitions 30 are attached to the boards 17 and 18 and incline downwardly as they extend inwardly, so as to provide an inclined bottom for the pigeon holes which will cause the letters to fall, by their own weight within the pigeon holes after they have been started therein by the postman and partitions of a transparent material may be inserted between the horizontal partitions as grooves are provided in the sides of the vertical partitions 31. The vertical partitions 31 are provided with longitudinally extending slots 32. The transparent panes 32 between the horizontal partitions are slidably or removably connected to the partitions 31, through the medium of guideways 32 which are formed on the vertical partitions as clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The partitions 30 are provided with a plurality of cut-out portions 36, which extend inwardly from their outer edges. The recesses or cut-out portions 36 are provided for facilitating the removal of the sorted letters from the various pigeon holes, and provide space through which the index finger of the postman may be inserted for engagement with the bottom of the bunch of letters mounted in any one of the pigeon holes.

The space between each pair of boards 17 and 18 beneath the desk top 20 may be uti lized for any purpose, such as for holding mail sacks, parcel'post packages or the like. Hooks, as shown at 38, are attached to the boards 18, for holding or supporting the mail mans coat and hat, if desired.

If it is so desired, suitable brace rods indicated at 40 may be provided for bracing the cabinet structure.

A vertical rod 41 is attached to each of the table tops 8 and it has a horizontally p0- sitioned rod 42 attached thereto and extending across the table top 8 in spaced relation thereto. The rods 41 and 42 are provided for facilitating the forming of the packages in bundles.

A sack hook 44 may be attached to the inner surface of the vertical board 17 beneath the desk top 20 if it is so desired.

Each of the cabinets, as shown and described, provide two compartments for receiving the letter mail and two for receiving the newspaper mail, but, if it is so desired, the cabinets may be changed for including 100 any number of compartments corresponding to the one described, without departing from the spirit of this invention, and if necessary,

a plurality of cabinets constructed in accordance with the drawing description may be placed within a post office for the various postmen or letter carriers.

In reducing the invention to practice, certain minor features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may neces- 11o sitate alterations to which the patentee is entitled provided such alterations are comprehended within the scope of what is claimed.

What I claim is:

1. A cabinet for post oflices including a center board, end boards attached to the opposite ends of the center board centrally of their ends and extending laterally beyond the opposite side faces of the center board, table tops secured to said center board and end boards intermediate their top and bottom, the space within said boards above said table top being provided with a plurality of inclined transversely arranged plates divided by. vertical plates which define pigeon holes for receiving mail matter, the floors of said pigeon holes being. inclined transversely, said plates being positioned upwardly of said table tops for forming mail receiv-' ing compartments, vertically arranged end boards secured by their edges to the opposite side longitudinal edges of the first named end boards defining a space and a plurality of transversely arranged inclined partitions secured to the first named end boards and defining pigeon holes.

2. A cabinet for postofiices including a central board, end boards secured to the opposite side edges of the central board centrally thereof and supporting the board in a vertical position, a plurality of end boards secured to the opposite side longitudinal edges of the first named end boards on the outer side faces thereof, a plurality of vertical partitions secured to and between the first named end boards and to the central board on the opposite faces thereof, inclined Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

transversely arranged partitions secured to the vertical partitions and to the opposite faces of the central board, forming mail pigeon holes, table tops secured to the central and end boards, and a plurality of transversely arranged vertically extending partitions secured to the outer faces of the first named end boards and between the second named end boards, as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I afi ix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARTIN AMES OLEARY, JR.

Witnesses:

ORA WnABLn, H. L. DUDLEY.

Washington, I). C. 

